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Friday, 28 December 2012

Health Apps for New Year 2013

Whether it is improving
health or managing finances better, most of us with sheer determination will
make resolutions faor 2013 and there are plenty of apps to help them achieve
their goals.

Nearly half of New Year's resolutions
are about setting health-related goals, which is the most popular category,
according to a recent survey by online broker TD Ameritrade.

Rather than jumping into a rigorous
fitness routine, a new app called 5K Runner suggests it might be better to ease
into things slowly and focus on building sustainable habits. The iPhone app
helps couch potatoes ramp up their running distance to 5 km over the course of
eight weeks.

"You're slowly building this routine into your daily
life with a lot of success and after eight weeks you're literally running 5K,
which is pretty big if (initially) you're not running at all," said
David-Michel Davies, the executive director of T he Webby Awards, an annual
ceremony honoring Internet companies.

The app guides runners through each
run, alternating periods of running and walking for 35 minutes.

Davies
also recommends Nike+ Running and RunKeeper, two popular and free fitness apps,
which use GPS to track distance traveled, speed and calories burned. Both apps
are available for iOS and Android devices.

Diet is another
component of good health and a focus of many apps. Fooducate is an iPhone and
Android app that helps shoppers make healthier purchases at the supermarket by
allowing them to scan the barcodes of products and get insight into how healthy
the product is.

Their database,
which contains over 200,000 products, displays a grade for the product and
information on its contents. It can show whether there are hidden additives or
the probability of containing genetically modified ingredients.

"There are
a lot of healthy people out there who unknowingly buy products that have an
inordinate amount of salt in them," Davies said.

DietBet is an
app for people with a competitive streak. Available for iPhone and on the Web,
it allows its users to join in a four-week weight loss challenge to lose 4
percent of weight. Everyone bets money, which goes into a fund, and submits
proof of weight lost. People who meet the challenge split the money.

"It comes
back again to how people get motivated," Davies said. "Gamification
is something that technology has really enabled and for some people it really
works."